Like Water to a Drowning Man
by Breakable Dolls
Summary: The lives of Hide(tada) and Tsuna(yoshi) Sawada are forever changed at ten and eight years old when their mother commits suicide. Warnings: suicide, major character death, gore, mafia, death, boys wearing skirts, NOT A TWIN OR EVIL BROTHER FIC
1. Chapter 1

Like Water to a Drowning Man

A/n at the bottom

Warning: suicide, major character death, gore, mafia, death, boys wearing skirts,

* * *

 _No one looked twice at the girl walking down the street. She had brown eyes and brown hair; there was nothing eye catching about that. Therefore she passed through the crowd without notice. Or she should have._

" _So...this is where you've been hiding, Sawada Tsunayoshi." in the shadows, a man with a fedora tracked the girl with his eyes._

* * *

Sawada Tsunayoshi was eight when his life changed for the worse. He use to be a relatively normal boy; he had very low grades, was bullied occasionally, and was extremely clumsy, but other than that he was completely ordinary. He had a mother, an older brother and a father, somewhere. His father supposedly worked as a construction worker all over the world. Tsuna - as Tsunayoshi liked to be called- and his brother, Hidetada or rather Hide weren't inclined to believe that.

But, back to eight year old Tsuna. It was the first of October, he'd had a bad feeling about going to school. So he played sick, but his mother had insisted that he go to school which was an oddity all it's own. Usually she would at least take his temperature before ushering him off. He couldn't tell her no; so he went to school. Around lunchtime Tsuna's worry spiked. He wanted to run home, but didn't want to get caught. In the end his worry won out and he snuck back home.

Tsuna crept into his mother's room. What he saw was burned into his mind forever. It was his mother, lying on the floor, gun in her hand with her brain leaking out the back of her head. The carpet was becoming more and more stained with blood. Tsuna collapsed to the ground legs shaking. He stared not being able to comprehend what happened. The room smelled of blood. Everything Tsuna had swallowed down that day came up.

"I… I have to call the police…" Tsuna reached for the phone that was on his mother's dresser.

He typed in "1-1-9" his hands shaking as he jabbed the number harder than necessary.

"119 what's your emergency?" a woman's voice came from over the phone.

"Ah… my my mother is… she's" Tsuna took a shaky breath, "She's lying on the floor. She isn't moving there's a lot of blood on the ground. She has… She has a gun in her hand. There's grey stuff around her head."

"We'll have someone there as soon as we can. Please stand by." the woman responded.

Tsuna let the phone fall along with his tears. He might have only been eight, but he knew that his mother was badly hurt; that it was extremely dangerous to have a head injury. He waited fifteen minutes until he heard the sound of an ambulance. There was a knock on the door and Tsuna stood up to answer it, but immediately feel back down, his legs numb. He tried again and stood on shaking legs. He slowly and wobbly made his way to the door. There we two paramedics.

"Um… She's upstairs in… in the master bedroom." Tsuna told them tears still falling.

The two men allowed Tsuna to show them where his mother was. The two men took notice of the vomit and asked about it.

"That… That was me." Tsuna answered.

The two men equipped with the proper equipment hauled his mother onto a stretcher. They offered to let him ride in the back. Tsuna quickly agreed after all it wasn't like he was going back to school. When they got to the hospital his mother was pronounced DOA.

* * *

 _The brunette turned into a thrift shop with a very traditional took that made it stand out from the rest of the street. Strangely enough no one else even looked in the direction of the shop._

 _She turned to greet the shop owner; a man with white hair and glasses. They nodded to each other and the girl slipped between the large messy shelves towards the back._

" _Have fun," the shop owner called to the girl, "little sky."_

* * *

The funeral was small and Iemitsu didn't show up. Although they did get to meet some of their extended family. Hide was only three years older than Tsuna so they need someone to look after them. There was no phone number for their father so he couldn't come and take them with him, not that the boys wanted him to. In the end their cousin, Minoru ended up taking them in. He lived in Tokyo and Tsuna and Hide had to change schools. They ended up not celebrating Tsuna's birthday with everything that happened. They sold the house in Namimori and most of the thing that they didn't need.

Tokyo was different; both Sawada brothers could agree on that. Although Namimori was big and had a large turn out in every graduating class it didn't compare to Tokyo. The people there were normal. There weren't any people that were obviously retired yakuza members, no kids that could do things that they shouldn't be able to (like take on adults in a fight and win), nor were they any people they could really bond with. In Tokyo there wasn't anyone that could help the Sawada brothers with their grief.

That went double for Tsuna although his brother had also lost his mother, he hadn't seen the body; they had cremated their mother. Hide knew better than anyone that he couldn't help his brother. They shared a room in Minoru's three bedroom house that he shared with his wife, Aya and their daughter, Naomi. Sometime Hide heard his brother crying out at night. Some nights Tsuna would bolt up out of bed and run to the bathroom where Hide could hear him vomit up whatever he had eaten.

The two brothers grew closer they had no one else. It soon became obvious that Minoru had only taken then in to look better and his wife was no different. Naomi was as spoiled as the family of three could afford. So having to feed two extra mouths had cut down drastically on the things they could buy. The ten year old wasn't too happy with the boys. Which wasn't helping Tsuna. He would wait until everyone else had gotten their food and then serve himself. So Hide had taken to serving Tsuna for him. At first he protested, but soon stopped. That was their life for two years either dislike or neutrality from the people they lived with.

A month from their mother's death anniversary was when their lives truly went down the drain.

* * *

 _The man with a fedora pushed the call button on his phone._

" _Idiot Hidetada, I've found your brother. Along with the underground fighting ring that you've been looking into. It seems our old friend Kawahira has been holding out on us._

* * *

As you might have guessed _Italics_ are the "present" normal writing is the "past." Fedora man is Adult!Reborn The "Girl" is Tsuna. Kawahira is the shop owner

This thing is just the prologue and originally it was going to be sooooo much more angsty like you have no idea. At first Tsuna wasn't going to have a brother and be all alone and end up on the streets then I'm like "but what if he did and his brother blamed him for their mother's death" and then I thought nah too cliche. So then I thought "what if they got separated" I thought "getting better, but they you'd have to write like triple for what you're planning." And here's what I finally finished with.

What is with me and Tsuna wearing skirts I don't know, but like he would look great in them. Also this will have a happy ending most likely, I hope. Okay so I don't have everything worked out. Also I'm trying to be funny not in this chapter, but like I hope that I can stick in some humor and heart warming moments.

Also someone get these boys a father figure!


	2. Chapter 2

Like Water to a Drowning Man

A/n at the bottom

Warnings: Slurs, bullying

* * *

Tsuna was sleeping; it was summer vacation and the night before he had had a bad dream so Hide let him sleep. He was the one to answer the door as neither Minoru and Aya were at home. Both had work and Naomi was with her friends. He wasn't expecting to open the door to a baby in a suit.

Hide let the baby in assuming that he had lost his parents. When Hide went to get the phone to give it to the baby. A gun was fried exceedingly close to his hand causing him to pause in his actions.

"Don't even think about calling the police, Sawada Hidetada. I have to say you're more informed than I gave credit for and able to remain calm." The baby squeeked.

"What the hell! Was that a really bullet? Informed, informed about what? I was going to give you the phone say you could call your parents or the police to get home!" Hide exclaimed flailing around a bit.

The baby blinked, put his gun away, and patted the couch," Then it seems that I'm going to have to explain somethings. Come sit."

Hide wasn't really inclined to listen to the gun toting baby. He was more interested in grabbing his baby brother and getting out of the house. But the baby did have a real, working gun and was apparently more than willing to use it on Hide. So he sat in the chair opposite of the insane baby occupied couch.

"Your father," the baby began ignoring Hide sneer at the word father," has hired me to teach either you or your brother, on how to be a mafia boss. You, of course being older, are prefered, but either way it doesn't matter. One of you will inherit the biggest and bloodiest mafia family, Vongola. Which ever one of you chooses to become Decimo will be coming with me to Italy for training. Speaking of which, where is you brother?"

"It doesn't matter. My brother will not have to witness anymore bloodshed. I will be the Vongola Decimo. All I ask in return is that my brother is moved out of this house and to some where that will take care of him properly" Hide looked at this baby with an unwavering, resolved, gaze.

"That can be arranged."

* * *

Tsuna woke up to his brother running his fingers through Tsuna thick hair. The dream he had been awoke from was rather unpleasant so he was thankful to awake to his brother's face. Then Tsuna noticed his brother wasn't the only one in the room. There was a baby; he was dangerous.

"Tsuna, are you awake now? I have something to tell you." Hide's voice is soothing and gentle in an almost motherly way.

Tsuna nodded, dislodging his brother's hand. Tsuna looked up at Hide with bleary eyes not sure what his brother was talking about.

"You won't be living with Minoru anymore, neither of us will. We won't be living together. You'll be living here, in Japan. I'll be moving to Italy, but I won't be like him. As often as I can, I'll call you." Hide is practically pleading with Tsuna, begging his brother not to hate him.

Tsuna didn't talk often, he never had. After his mother's death he talked even less, only when it was necessary. With Hide Tsuna hardly ever had to talk. Would it be the same with the people he moves in with? This would be the first time in his life without his brother. Tsuna was nervous to the point of panicking, but Hide had asked something of him and Tsuna wouldn't let his brother down.

Tsuna sat up in his futon; he looked directly into his brother's eyes. _This is for Hide. Whatever it is that's going on, I won't get in his way._ Tsuna nodded again.

"Okay, Tsuna this is Reborn." Hide gestured to the baby,"He will be helping us find you a proper home. Do you think you could write down a list of things that would make you more comfortable when staying somewhere without me?"

Tsuna tilted his head to the side then got out of his futon. He pulled out his school supplies and ripped out a notebook. Tsuna pulled out a pen and wrote.

1\. no children older than me

2\. afford to take care of me

3\. my own room to decorate as I please

4\. my own clothes

5\. a school with a low bullying tolerance

Tsuna handed the list to his brother who added a few things to it then gave it to Reborn.

* * *

Reborn watched the two boys interact; it was informative to say the least. Hidetada was very protective of his brother. He could understand his brother without the younger even speaking words. There was nothing on Tsunayoshi's file about being mute so Reborn assumed that he was silent by choice.

The two Sawada brothers looked alike; both had brown hair, brown eyes, and a short stature. Hideyoshi was slightly taller, had a build more like his father's, and had short straight hair. Tsunayoshi had a body type more similar to his more, long spiky hair, and just felt smaller compared to his brother.

Reborn looked at the list he was given.

1\. no children older than me (It would feel like I was being replaced)

2\. afford to take care of me (comfortably, where we're staying has a tight budget)

3\. my own room to decorate as I please (we share here and aren't allowed to add things)

4\. my own clothes (we share so everything is either too big for Tsuna or too small for me)

5\. a school with a low bullying tolerance (Tsuna is a very easy target for bullies with his shy demeanor)

6\. (They need to fill up Tsuna's plate for him or he won't eat)

7.(pretty liberal I don't want Tsuna being taken care of bigots)

8.(make sure he gets involved with extracurriculars)

9.(a younger child to give Tsuna a sense of responsibility)

10.(loving and willing to take care of my little brother)

11.(Don't force him to talk if he doesn't want to)

Reborn had to admit it was a pretty reasonable and sound list of items. It would be pretty easy to find someone that hit most if not all the points. Just not in Namimori which is where Iemitsu wanted the non decimo brother to live. But he could find a family near Namimori. It was a good idea to comply with the one request Hidetada made.

* * *

Reborn said that Tsuna didn't need to take anything with him unless it had some strange sentimental value. Tsuna had been tempted to latch onto his brother's arm, but feared it would be counterproductive to what was going on. So he grabbed the one thing he would be bring with him, a necklace. The necklace had once belonged to his mother. It was a golden locket with a hearted pendent. The pendent opened up and held a picture inside. The picture was from Hide's ninth birthday. All three were in the picture, Tsuna, Hide and their mother.

It only took two days for Reborn to find a family that Tsuna could stay with. To Tsuna it all seemed so surreal. He was going to live with some strange family without his brother. Tsuna couldn't help, but wonder. Was Hide going to turn into another Iemitsu? Would his brother forget about him? Tsuna didn't want to doubt his brother, but he had already been betrayed by one man in his life. A band of mistrust was already established.

* * *

Tsuna looked around the house, it was very nice. He had been introduced to the three residence, Morishige Nagi a girl his age, Naito Daiki her step-father, and Naito Setsuko her mother. Although Tsuna could tell just by watching that he wouldn't be seeing much of the parents. Setsuko was a rather prominent actress and was often in other countries. Daiki was a businessman and was also out of the country more than he was in Japan. Nagi reminded Tsuna of himself so she needed a Hide. Tsuna was going to be her Hide.

There were four main helpers. There was Ryo, the cook. Osamu, the glorified baby sitter. Jun, the housekeeper and his twin sister, Hwan, the gardener. Hwan only came once a week on Tuesdays. Jun came on Thursdays and Mondays. Ryo and Osamu were at the house everyday. Ryo arrived at sixish and usually left around seven, seven-thirty A.M. Osamu would arrive after school finished for the day and left after Tsuna and Nagi had dinner.

Tsuna and Nagi made an odd pair. The two hardly ever talked even to each other. Both had a doll-like aura. As if to prodded them too hard they would break. They seemed to be able to communicate with each other with only a glance. Although without Tsuna Nagi never would have figured it out, she loved pranking people. She once nearly peed herself laughing when Osamu jumped a foot of the ground due to her duck taping air-horns behind every door.

Of course Nagi wasn't the only one upsetting Osamu. Tsuna's grades were doing a pretty fine job. It got to the point that Osamu got permission to take him for a brain scan. They found that the part of Tsuna's brain that retained knowledge stopped developing past age five. It was a bit of a shock of everyone involved. They were able to discover it was due to emotional trauma. This confused the doctors as the only emotional traumatic event they had listed was his mother's suicide.

Tsuna was taken from doctor to doctor, be it medical or psychological. He was missing more and more school, his brother wasn't calling as often., and Nagi was withdrawing from Tsuna. Everything he had built up for the past six months was falling apart. So Tsuna insisted that ether he was pulled out of school or he didn't go to as many appointments. It was the first time in Tsuna's life that he ever raised his voice. He got his point across and was soon placed in a special needs class at the same school Nagi went to.

Tsuna didn't like getting treated like he was stupid; he wasn't. He just had a learning disability. There were some pros of having the other student think he was stupid. It was gossip people would openly talk about. The most recent rumors they heard. This cause Tsuna to discover an ability he had. He could tell when someone was lying.

It also helped him discover Nagi's reason for withdrawing, bullying. If there was one thing Tsuna knew about it was bullying. He knew why people targeted others, why they felt the need to bully, and where they committed the acts. So at lunch Tsuna snuck away from his classroom and headed to the spot in the school garden where grass never grew. There were six girls from Nagi's class picking on her.

They were saying awful things to her. They pushed her and Tsuna couldn't bare to watch his friend get hurt. So he stepped in front of Nagi to protect her. This didn't seem to deter the girls at all. Luckily Tsuna had a secret weapon. He gave Nagi a wink and whipped up some fake tears; Nagi realizing what he had planned followed suit this cause the words the girl were spewing to became harsher. At the exact same time Nagi and Tsuna let loose two extremely loud wails.

The teachers heard the commotion and quickly headed over. A few recognized Tsuna from the special needs program and hurried over to him. They asked him what had happened and he relayed the truth. Then Nagi piped in

"Those girls called him a retard. I know what that means. They called him that just 'cause Tsuna's brain stopped developing. I could take them saying bad things about me, but Tsuna is really nice and when they called him that… I… I couldn't take it." Nagi let out another wail.

"They said that Nagi's mom was a whore and that Nagi was going to grow up to be one too. And they said that her parents didn't love her and didn't want to see her face so they left the country. But that isn't true! Auntie Setsuko is really nice and let's me stay at Nagi's house while my brother is in Italy. And Both Auntie Setsuko and Uncle Daiki love Nagi!" Tsuna allowed two big tears drop to fall from his eyes and sniffled.

A teacher escorted both Tsuna and Nagi to the nurse's office. While the other two took the six girls to the principal's office

* * *

It was hard to let go of his brother, but Hide knew it was for the best. He didn't want his brother to be dragged into the world of bloodshed. Hide had started off calling his brother every night, but it as getting harder to find time to do so. He hoped that his brother was doing okay.

Reborn had taken to "tutoring" which was another word for torture. Still Hide was getting better grades than ever. Of course that could be because he was being homeschooled. Reborn had said something about a mafia school. Supposedly once Hide was strong enough he would start there.

The whole situation made Hide sick to his stomach. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to make his brother do this either. Anytime Hide thought about giving up, he imagined his brother having to do the same thing and managed to find strength to the other day Hide had learned how to make a body decompose quickly. He threw up several times.

"Idiot Hidetada get back to work!"

* * *

So the reason Reborn didn't explain everything is because he didn't want to repeat things.

Yes Nagi is Chrome. We are never given names for her parents so I had to make up some. The reason Nagi has a different last name is she kept her father's name. In this Nagi's parents are neglectful. They leave people to take care of her, but they are emotionally neglectful.

The whole brain developing thing. It's due to sealed flames. Great job Nono and Iemitsu.

As alway any questions ask via review or PM


	3. Chapter 3

Like water to a Drowning Man

A/n at the bottom

Warnings: gore, implied panic attack, implied PTSD, Throwing cannon events into a blender and pureeing them, Oc's for Hide guardians

* * *

Tsuna saw the true face of the Naitos when he and Nagi were thirteen. Nagi had found a cat on the street the year prior and they had taken it home to nurse it back to health. The cat, a long haired calico, became a permanent resident of the house and was named Kabocha. Tsuna liked Kabocha a lot, certainly better than any dog he'd ever met. Nagi love Kabocha; she would've died for the cat and she nearly did.

The had been coming back from a visit to the vet. Tsuna had been carrying Kabocha. The cat must have seen something because he had begun to scratch a Tsuna arms causing Tsuna to let go of him. Kabocha had run across the street; Nagi had chased him. A semi-truck had come barreling down the street. It ran straight into her. It kept going and Tsuna was…

 _ **A carpet stained with blood…**_

 _ **Brain matter leaking out of his mother's head**_

 _ **A gun in her hand…**_

 _ **Blood everywhere…**_

 _ **Everywhere...**_

 _ **It was coming out of Nagi...**_

 _ **It took fifteen minutes…**_

 _ **Nagi couldn't wait that long…**_

...not okay. He ran to her and scooped Nagi up into his arms. There was a hospital down the street. Tsuna didn't bother with Kabocha he just ran to the emergency room. He burst into the room like a mad man tears streaming down his face. Almost immediately there were people there helping him. A doctor asking what happened, a nurse ushering him to where Nagi was, everything was blurring together.

"Sir! Calm down you need to breathe!"

Tsuna tried to follow the instructions. Slowly, slowly, slowly, his breathing was back to normal and his vision was cleared. He told the doctors what happened. Tsuna called Osamu and told him what happened. Osamu said he'd be there soon. Tsuna looked down at his clothes the were covered with _blood._ His gakuen jacket that had been buttoned up was cover in _Nagi's blood._

Tsuna ripped the jacket off of him, but blood had seeped through the jacket on to his white shirt. There was only a few small stains, but to Tsuna it felt like his shirt was drenched in blood. He felt like he was going to throw up. He didn't but he felt like it.

Osamu arrived ten minutes later and the doctors told he and Tsuna that Nagi a organ transplant. Osamu called the both the Naitos. Setsuko was a match, but she refused to give Nagi anything

" _My life is more important than her's. She's only a thirteen year old student. I'm a working actress. It should be obvious who's more important."_

Tsuna wanted to scream that Nagi was.

* * *

Hide received a text from the Natio household, where Tsuna had been living at for four years it read:

Sawada Tsunayoshi ran away from the house some time between 6:30PM and 6AM. We believe this is because Nagi, his friend and playmate was hit by a semi-truck in front of him. She requires organs and the only known viable donner had declined. We are unsure on how to proceed and wished to inform you.

-The Natio Household

Four years ago Hide would have had a panic attack now, after Reborn's training he only took a deep breath and called in Zeno Burno, his lightning guardian. He was the most adapt for what Hide wanted.

"Zeno I need you to go to Japan for me."

* * *

Tsuna didn't know what compelled him to run away. He wanted to make sure Nagi was safe, but he didn't want to see her die. Tsuna didn't want to think things like that, but he knew it was possible. That Nagi would die; that Tsuna would be all alone again. He could go through that again so he left. Well he packed a few things first, the money his brother and father sent for his birthday and Christmas, some clothes of a more plain variety so he wouldn't stand out, any canned food or if it had a far off expiration date, and of course his mother's locket.

Tsuna didn't know where to go. So he headed to the first place that popped into his head, Namimori.

* * *

Zeno Bruno was a large man and he stood out like a sore thumb in Japan. He really didn't know why he was the one who had to do this. Checking around for the not-quite-yet-Decimo's younger brother. Not that he wasn't glad his Sky trusted him to find the brother. He just felt like the mission was a waste of his talents. After three weeks he headed back to Italy empty handed.

* * *

Yeah… super short. Sorry, but I got a chapter out after what? Three weeks I think.


End file.
